


On a World Alone

by silent_bard



Category: Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: After the purrgil attack, Ar'alani (mentioned) - Freeform, Crash Landing, Ezra Bridger died before story began, Hammerly (mentioned), M/M, Post-Star Wars Rebels: The Siege of Lothal, Pyrondi (mentioned), he is mentioned, mentions of dead bodies and graves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:34:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22887907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silent_bard/pseuds/silent_bard
Summary: Thrawn awakens on a forested world after his ship, theChimaera, has crash landed there.
Relationships: Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Eli Vanto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37





	On a World Alone

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after the battle over Lothal in Rebels. It does mention death and destruction following a crash landing. I marked the major character death warning because Bridger is dead before these events happen but mentioned briefly in the story.

What is this?

He lifted his hand to wipe the wet and sticky something from his cheek only to find his hand was covered in it too. He forced his eyes open. The sun streaming through the trees hurt. Causing tears to well up in the corners of his eyes.

He squinted and focused on his hand. Mud.

He looked around as much as he could from this angle. He appeared to be in a rather large puddle of mud. His pristine white uniform now spattered with the oozy brackish stuff. And with bits of his own dried blood.

He shook his head trying to clear his mind. Where was he? How did he get here? Slowly, like grains of sand in an hourglass, it started coming back to him.

He had been over Lothal coordinating a battle. The young Jedi, Ezra Bridger, was there on his bridge. Through some jedi devilry he had summoned the purrgils. He could feel the pain those damned beasts had caused creeping back in as the fogginess left his mind and the numbness of unconsciousness faded.

It’s a wonder he didn’t suffocate laying in the mud face down as he was. He put weight on his arms as he attempted to push himself up. His arms were shaky but able to support him. It took a couple of tries to stand, but he managed it. A few stretches and he was satisfied that nothing was broken. Bruised, certainly. Definitely a couple of sprains as well.

He looked around to get his bearings. He was in a forest, the trees not quite dense enough to blot out the sun which dappled the leaf-strewn floor. There was no path. Not even a well-tread animal trail. That didn’t bode well.

He could see a clearing a few hundred meters behind him. That would be his best chance. Perhaps his ship crashed there.

As he walked, picking his way through the undergrowth and fallen logs, he began to see bits of wreckage and bodies scattered about. Only a few bodies at first, but soon there were many. All dead, many badly broken. How had he survived when none of the others had?

It was slow going after a while. He stopped to check each person he passed, hoping against hope to find another living soul. No such luck.

Finally, he came to the clearing, a clearing created by a star destroyer’s violent crash into the planet. It looked so much larger like this. A giant broken thing. It sat there amid the destruction, once a formidable weapon now a tomb for thousands of Imperial soldiers.

He huffed out a breath as he considered the easiest way onto the ship. It had managed to get buried nose first in the dirt, but it was also angled slightly to the left. He would have to crawl part of the way, but he could get in through the hangar underneath. He didn’t relish the idea. His body was sore, and his throat was parched.

Nothing for it, though. He squared his shoulders and got to it.

Once inside, he noticed the smell of death hanging heavy in the air. He knew then how unlikely it would be to find survivors. He still tried, though.

It took him days to go through the whole ship. His worst fears proved correct as he stumbled across body after body. He had found the Jedi on the bridge. He appeared to have been slammed into the bulkhead on impact. Not a pretty sight, and such a waste, too.

None of the comm equipment worked, and the power was out. Permanently by the look of it. He gathered as many supplies as he could, and wandered back out into the forest, picking his way back to the cursed mud puddle he had awoken in.

He made it a few feet beyond the puddle when he saw the dead purrgil. One of its tentacles stretched out toward his own crash landing. Ah. That was why he lived. He must have still been in the creature’s embrace during the crash. Its body buffering his own. Had the Jedi truly compelled it to remain so long? He would have thought the creature’s own instincts would have won out in time to leave before they entered the planet’s atmosphere.

He also realized now just how vulnerable he had been when he woke up. How could he have missed such a large body on his initial sweep of the area?

He decided not to dwell too much on it as he continued to pick his way through the forest. He walked until nightfall before stopping to make camp. So far all he had seen were trees and more trees. Well perhaps a little more than that.

The forest had plenty of plant life. Moss, vines and lichen clinging to trees. Smaller plants vying for sunlight on the forest floor. Bugs, too. Of all shapes and sizes. But nothing else. He had yet to see any other forms of life. Or of civilization. 

He had been walking for two weeks now, and the only thing he had really learned about this planet was which plants and bugs were edible and which weren’t. His survival training had covered such contingencies along with everything else he needed to live.

But the boredom, the monotony? That was excruciating. He would give anything to hear another voice again. Even Pryce’s, he thought as he tossed the shell of his latest meal into the fire.

He would give it two more weeks. If he hadn’t found anything by then, he would have to start work on a permanent camp. The idea that he may well grow old and die alone in this godsforsaken forest was a depressing one, but he had no way to call for help without comm equipment.

It would be a long trek back, but he had already decided he would make his camp within walking distance of the crash. He could work on trying to come up with some sort of comm system of his own making from salvaged parts, even if he knew it was hopeless. He would also need to bury his people. A sentimental gesture. Something he was generally not prone to, but they would have appreciated it. It would also help the time to pass, and perhaps even help to keep him sane in his loneliness until his own end came.

* * *

Eli’s shuttle landed in a large clearing. As he stepped out and saw the star destroyer nature was slowly claiming, he breathed a sigh of relief. This felt like the thousandth planet he had searched. Every time he built up enough leave, he would requisition a long range shuttle and search a new planet. 

This was his last, though.

Ar’alani had been very clear that it was time to let go, and that his career could suffer should he refuse to give up his insane endeavor. Her words, not his. Apparently, it reflected poorly on his mental state. Or so he had been told. It had been eight years after all, and enough was enough.

Knowing he only got one more shot at it, he had spent an extra month going through as much pertinent data as he could get his hands on. Purrgil migration patterns and every scrap of research ever done on the animals. The Chimaera’s known trajectory that last day it was seen over Lothal. Every eye witness account and recording from every ship, sensor and person in the area. He had looked so long, every waking hour he wasn’t on duty in fact, that he could see the numbers and patterns every time he closed his eyes. He finally settled on the last planet to make sense, and now all his hard work and sleepless nights paid off. He had found him.

Well, he had found the planet, and the ship, and thousands of graves marked by rough-hewn, wooden markers surrounding the clearing like a fence with more as far into the forest as the eye could see. He ran his hand over a couple, the names carved deep into the wood. Pyrondi. Hammerly. Friends. Comrades.

Several scan readings had already told him it was a half day's walk from the clearing to a man-made structure. The only man-made structure. He said a silent farewell to the fallen, and started walking.

When he stumbled across the small hut, it was like deja vu. It looked almost identical to the first hut all those years ago. The Chiss looked similar as well, if older now, in his ragged clothes and long hair.

When he stepped out of his hut and saw Eli, he just silently stared at him like he didn’t dare believe he was real. It wasn't until Eli ran to him and pulled him into a bone crushing hug that Thrawn's calm facade broke. 

“Eli! Eli,” he repeated. “I thought I would never see you again.” His body shook slightly and he stroked Eli’s hair as he slowly calmed down again. They went inside and talked for hours, catching up on all that had happened in their years apart. As the sun set, their words turned to caresses and they caught up on all the rest they had missed as well.

The walk back to Eli's shuttle the next morning was long, but both men relished each other’s company as they started the rest of their life together.


End file.
